Transport Security

Bill to stop whole body imaging in US airports

By Kelly Ng | 10 June 2009

The United States House of Representatives is trying to reverse the use of whole body imaging machines at domestic airport checkpoints.

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The House approved an amendment in legislation by a vote of 310 to 118. The legislation will ban whole body imaging as the primary method of passenger screening and passengers should be offered the alternative pat-down search. The bill also bans the storage or transmission of images once viewed.

To date, 19 airports across the the US are equipped with these millimetre-wave machines that direct radio waves through clothing to reveal concealed weapons, explosives, liquids, metals, drugs or other illegal items. The technology produces a three-dimensional image of the nude body, detailed enough to show genitalia.

Among these airports, six use the machine as a primary screening method. The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) claims that 98 to 99 per cent of passengers at these six airports consent to screening while the remaining minority opted for the traditional pat-down search, which takes two to four minutes longer.

TSA assures that passenger privacy is protected through modesty filter and image anonymity. The image is viewed remotely by an officer who will not see the passenger’s genital area. The machines do not have storage capability and images are deleted once viewed.

Each machine costs US$170,000.